Naming the new Charger the "Charger" may have been a mistake, or maybe not. The old Chargers had big V-8s, performance, and a certain mystique about them. So do the new ones - they just also happen to have four doors. The new Chargers have captured the essence of the old ones perfectly, and I think this is proven by the ebbing of the criticisms of the four doors.

Should Chrysler have given the car a different name? On the surface, yes. But Chrysler is in the business of selling cars to make money and coming up with a new, never used name may not have generated as much interest, and resulting sales, as recycling an old one. So what old name should be resurrected? It should evoke images of past glories and yet not be so distant in time that the name has been forgotten. This strategy worked for the 300 - yes it was quite a leap from the 50s to the 80s to reuse the 300 name, but this worked out with the 300C name of today. But what do you call the Dodge version? Diplomat? Polara? So bringing back Charger actually makes sense. And most importantly, the current car meets the performance standards of the prior one. After all, can you imagine naming a little FWD four banger "Charger"?

Just reread the above checking for spelling and grammar errors (never helps since I absolutely can't spot them on a monitor) and had an idea for another name. I thought that maybe Chrysler could have gone with a Plymouth name - maybe Duster or even Satellite. Oh well, too late now.